A Family Court judge’s neglect finding against a father who spanked his child has been overturned by a Brooklyn appellate court that said the discipline was not excessive.
“The father’s open-handed spanking of the child as a form of discipline after he heard the child curse at an adult was a reasonable use of force and, under the circumstances presented here, did not constitute excessive corporal punishment,” a unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, Second Department, ruled in Matter of Laequise P., 2013-04513.
